Calendar clock



F. LUX

CALENDAR CLOCK Ap ril 30, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 14, 1954 6? ll i 7 ATTORNEYG O INVENTOR April 30, 1957 F. ux 2,790,300

CALENDAR CLOCK Filed Jan. 14, 1954 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 TOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent CALENDAR CLOCK Frederick Lux, Waterbury, Conn.. assignor to The Lux Clock Manufacturing Company, Inc., Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application January 14, 1954, Serial No. 403,953

3 Claims. (Cl. 58-6) This invention relates to calendar clocks and more particularly to a clock which will not only show the hour of the day, as is done by the usual clock, but will also show the month, the day of the month, and the day of the week.

More particularly the invention comprises a clock mechanism which may be operated in any desired way, the clock mechanism operating the usual minute and hour hands about a clock dial and also operating drums or tapes upon which are indicia denoting the month and day of the week, and the day of the month, the dial of the clock being provided with openings through which these indicia may be seen. As illustrated, applicant has provided three rotatably mounted drums, the axes of which are in alignment. One of these drums carries the days of the week and another the months of the year, while the third serves as a driving drum for an endless tape bearing the numbers from 1 to 31 so as to indicate the days of the month.

Two of these drums are rotated from a shaft which is driven by the clock mechanism by means of a cam, the mechanism being so arranged that the shaft is driven in a step-by-step manner and turned through one step in each twenty-four hours.

The third drum which indicates the months of the year is operated manually by a convenient slide, and this manual operation must be performed by the user at the end of each month. As previously stated, the movement of the drum indicating the days or" the week and of the endless tape or ribbon indicating the days of the month is automatically effected by the clockwork but provision is made for independently adjusting the drum which carries the endless tape so that it may be adjusted for those months which have under thirty-one days.

One object of the present invention is to provide a calendar clock mechanism of relatively simple structure which will at the same time be accurate and exhibit the days of the month and week.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a calendar clock of the character described which may be constructed economically so that it may be sold at a relatively low price and which at the same time will function accurately not only to tell the time of day but also the month, day of the month, and day of the week.

Still another object of the present invention is. the provision of a calendar clock embodying an endless ribbon or tape upon which the days of the month are indicated, the mechanism having a novel arrangement for supporting and driving the endless tape so that it will remain in synchronism with the movable drum indicating the days of the week.

A still further obiect of the invention is to provide in .a calender clock mechanism a convenient method for driving the various indicating elements having the indicia thereon and at the same time permitting manual adjustment of certain of these elements in order to make the necessary corrections when correction is required.

Patented Apr. 30, 1957 To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a calendar clock mechanism embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevational View of the clock mechanism, the dial having been removed to show the interior parts, and some parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4--4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the drum for driving the endless tape which bears the indicia indicating the days of the month.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is shown in the drawings a clock mechanism comprising a case 10 having a dial 11 and a rear mounting plate 12 upon which the mechanism may be supported, as will be hereinafter explained. As. shown in Fig. l of the drawings, the dial 11 is provided with the usual numerals 13 to indicate the hour of the day and also with openings 14, 15 and 16 through which may be displayed the days of the week, the month of the year, and the day of the month which are carried by movable elements to be hereinafter described. Also, as shown in Fig. l, the clock will be provided with the usual minute and hour hands 17 and 13.

Referring particularly to Figs. 2 and 3, a motor 20, which in this case may be an electric motor, is supported upon a plate 12, this motor driving clock mechanism of the usual form indicated generally at 21, which mechanism drives the minute and hour hands 17 and 18, and which may be set or adjusted by the adjusting knob 22. As this mechanism is of the usual form, no detailed description thereof is required.

Secured to the shaft or sleeve which drives the hour hand is a gear 23 (Fig. 2), the teeth of which are in mesh with a larger gear 24 rotatably mounted upon a front plate 25. A l-to-Z ratio exists between the gears 23 and 24 so that while the gear 23 makes a full turn every twelve hours as this gear is upon the shaft of the hour hand, the gear 24 will make a rotation every twentyfour hours and, as will be described hereinafter, the latter gear serves to actuate the mechanism which indicates the days of the week and the days of the month.

As shown more especially in Fig. 4, a shaft is mounted at one end in a supporting arm 31 carried by the supporting plate 12;, and the other end of this shaft is rotatably received in a sleeve 32 rigidly secured to a second shaft 33 rotatably mounted in an arm 34 also secured to the plate 12. Thus the shafts 30 and 33 are in alignment and will normally rotate together by virtue of a clutch mechanism which comprises a toothed clutch member 35 secured to the shaft 31 by the set screw 36 and a cooperatin toothed clutch member 37 formed integrally with the sleeve 32. A third supporting arm 38 carried by the back plate 12 supports an inner end of the shaft 3%? and prevents longitudinal movement thereof as this member lies adjacent the adjacent end of the clutch member 35.

Rigidly secured upon the shaft 30 between spacing collars 3'9 and id is a hollow drum 41 which drum, as shown particularly in Fig. 2, bears indicia 42 indicating the days of the week. The collar is secured to the shaft 3% by the set screws 43, and integrally formed with this collar is a ratchet wheel 44.

Mounted to rotate freely upon the shaft 30 is a second hollow drum 45 bearing indicia 46 to indicate the months of the year. To this drum are secured collars {Hand 48 loosely receiving the shaft 30, and a ratchet wheel 49 is formed integrally with the collar 48.

Mounted upon the shaft 33 and rigidly secured thereto so as to rotate therewith is a driving drum 50 about which is trained an endless ribbon or tape 51 which bears indicia 52, as shown in Fig. 1, denoting the days of the month, this indicia comprising the numerals 1 to 31 inclusive. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the tape 51 is provided with openings 53, and projecting through these openings are teeth 54 provided upon the end walls 55 and 56 of the drum 50 so that the drum will act as a sprocket to drive the tape when the drum is rotated.

It has been found that if the drum 50 is constructed in the ordinary way and the tape 51 permitted to contact the drum over its entire width, the friction between the tape and the drum will cause the relatively shallow teeth 54 to be pulled out of the openings 53 and the tape to be driven by friction instead of by the teeth of the drum. For this reason it is desired to have as little friction as possible between the tape and the drum, and for this reason arrangement is made to provide for a slack condition of the tape and for as little contact as is possible between the tape and the drum.

To this end the surface of the hollow cylindrical portion of the drum 50 is depressed, as shown at 57, so as to lie inwardly of the edge portions 58 of this member which project between the teeth 54 upon the end disks 55 and 56, and it will be noted from Fig. 6 that the tape only comes in contact with these end portions of the drum surface.

At its upper end the tape 51 is trained over a drum 59, which drum is rotatably mounted in a U-shaped yoke member 60, which yoke member is movably mounted upon the supporting plate 12. To this end the yoke member is provided with a strap or hanger member 61, having an elongated slot 61 therein. A pin or similar fastening member 61 is secured to the plate 12 and slidably received in the slot 61*. A relatively light spring 61 is secured at one end to the plate and at its other end to the strap member 61 in order to maintain the tape under light tension and insure that the openings 53 in the tape are engaged by the teeth 54 so that the tape will be properly driven.

In order to drive the shaft 30 and drum 41 secured thereto and also drive the shaft 33 with its drum 50, a lever 62 is pivoted to the supporting frame member 25 at 63 (Fig. 1). This lever is provided with a tooth or detent 64 adapted to ride upon the surface of a cam wheel 65 having a drop or step 66 at one point in its periphery. The cam wheel 65 is secured to the shaft 24 of the gear 24 so that it is rotated from the gear 23.

To the free end of the lever 62 is attached an arm or pawl member 67 which extends downwardly so that its lower end engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel 44 which has been previously described as secured to the shaft 30. A spring 68 maintains the tooth or detent 64 in engagement with the periphery of the cam wheel 65.

It has been stated that the gear wheel 24 is rotated through one complete revolution every 24 hours, and this is likewise true of the cam member 65. Therefore, due to the cooperation of the detent 64 and the stepped periphery of the cam wheel 65, the lever 62 will gradually be raised during the rotation of the cam wheel until the detent is allowed to drop off the step portions 66 of this wheel which will occur once in every twenty-four hours. When this occurs and t e lever 62 is pulled downwardly by the spring 68, the detent 67 will, through its engagement with the teeth or" the ratchet wheel 44, move this ratchet wheel through one step of its revolution, and thus rotate the drum 4]. a sufiicient amount to exhibit the indication of the next weekday through the opening 14 in the dial. That is to say, if, as shown, the clock face shows that the day is Saturday, the movement of the ratchet wheel 44 by one descent of the pawl member 67 will move the drum a sufficient extent so that the indication Sun will appear through the opening 14.

As the drum 50 is normally clutched to the shaft 30 by the clutch members 35 and 37, the drum 50 will also be rotated through one step and will, therefore, expose the next higher numeral through the opening 16 of the clock dial 11. Thus every twenty-four hours when the cam has rotated to the position to permit the detent 64 to drop from the step 66, both of the drums 41 and 50 will be rotated through one step of a revolution.

there are thirty-one numerals upon the tape 51 and as some months of the year do not have thirty-one days, it will be necessary to adjust this drum for months which have less than thirty-one days. For this purpose the shaft 33 is loosely mounted in the arm 34 so that it may be moved axially against the tension of the spring which acts between the arm 34 and the adjacent end of the drum 50 normally urging this drum to the left, as shown in Fig. 4. By grasping the knob 71 on the end of the shaft 30, the latter together with the drum 50 and the clutch member 37 may be drawn slightly to the right to disengage the teeth of the clutch members 35 and 37, and the drum 50 may then be manually turned independently of the drum 41 so as to make a correction, if necessary, in respect to the day of the month.

While the drums 41 and 50 normally rotate together with the shafts 30 and 33, the drum 45 as has been previously described is loosely mounted upon the shaft 30 and is not rotated by the rotation of this shaft. Provision is made for manually rotating the drum 45 by means of a slide 72 slidably mounted upon the supporting member 12 by means of slots 73 and rivets 74. A spring 75 secured to the upper end of the slide and to the supporting plate 12 normally holds this slide in its upper position. As shown more especially in Fig. 5, a pawl arm 76 is secured to this slide, and the free end of this pawl projects outwardly and upwardly into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 49 which, as has been previously described, is secured to the drum 45. The slide 72 is provided with a laterally turned end 77, and the user of the clock may grasp the lower end of the slide and pull it downwardly against the tension of the spring 75. When the slide is released, the spring will. move it upwardly, and during its upward movement the pawl 76 will rotate the ratchet wheel through a small arc to move the drum a sufficient distance to bring the next month indication into registration with the opening 15 of the dial. Thus at the end of each month the drum 45 is manually moved to its next position to indicate the following month, while also the drum 50 may be moved, it it is necessary, to make a correction for the number of days of the month. Otherwise the device is automatic and the days of the month and days of the week will be accurately indicated and displayed through the openings 14 and 16.

In order to prevent reverse movement of the pawls 44 and 49, holding detents 78 and 79 are secured to the supporting plate 12, these pawls projecting outwardly from the plate so that their free ends engage the teeth of the ratchet wheels to hold them against reverse movement.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A calendar clock comprising a case, a shaft rotatably mounted therein, a drum secured to said shaft having weekday indications thereon, motor-operated means for effecting rotation of said shaft in a step-by-step manner to index said drum, a second drum, a second shaft rotatably mounted in the case to which said second drum is secured, a sleeve member secured to said second shaft to rotatably receive an end of said first shaft, disengageable clutch means carried by said first shaft and said sleeve for driving said second shaft from the first shaft, an endless tape trained about said second drum, openings in the case to expose portions of said first drum and of said tape, and manually operable means extending without the case for disengaging said clutch and rotating said second shaft.

2. A clendar clock comprising a case, a shaft rotatably mounted therein, a drum secured to said shaft having weekday indications thereon, motor-operated means for effecting rotation of said shaft in a step-byst-ep manner to index said drum, a second drum, a second shaft rotatably mounted in the case to which said second drum is secured, said second shaft being coaxial with said first shaft, a sleeve member secured at one end of said second shaft to rotatably receive the adjacent end of said first shaft, a clutch member on said sleeve, a cooperating clutch member carried by the adjacent end of said first shaft, said second shaft being axially movable to disengage said clutch, an endless tape trained about said second drum, openings in the case to expose portions of said first drum and said tape, and manually operable means extending without the case for disengaging the clutch and rotating the second shaft inde pendently of the first shaft.

3. A calendar clock comprising a case, a shaft rotatably mounted therein, a drum secured to said shaft having weekday indications thereon, motor-operated means for effecting rotation of said shaft in a step-bystep manner to index said drum, a second drum, a second shaft rotatably mounted in the case to which said second drum is secured, said second shaft being coaxial with said first shaft, a sleeve member secured at one end of said second shaft to rotatably receive the adjacent end of said first shaft, a clutch member on said sleeve, 9. cooperating clutch member carried by the adjacent end of said first shaft, said second shaft being axially movable to disengage said clutch, an endless tape trained about said second drum, openings in the case to expose portions of said first drum and said tape, manually operable means extending without the case for disengaging the clutch and rotating the second shaft independently of the first shaft, and spring means normally urging said second shaft in a direction to engage said clutch members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 222,377 Bundy Dec. 9, 1879 472,952 Martindale April 12, 1892 1,139,474 Bass Mar. 18, 1915 1,677,872 Reid July 17, 1928 2,676,765 Kaplan Apr. 27, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 439,565 France Apr. 12, 1912 56,939 Netherlands Sept. 15, 1944 

